The Republic of Cascadia

By Kayla Webley

The Republic of Cascadia would bring together Washington State, Oregon and British Columbia. Proponents of the new country (which has little chance of ever becoming a reality) say the approximately 14 million residents of "Cascadia" should demand their freedom from the oppressive governments of Canada and the U.S. "For too long have our people put up with indifference ... from distant seats of power," they write on the Republic of Cascadia website. Supporters point to the words of Thomas Jefferson, who apparently never intended that the U.S. reach all the way to the Pacific Ocean.

Abundant in both natural and industrial resources, home to giant corporations like Microsoft, Amazon, Starbucks and Nike, and host to the Hollywood of the North (Vancouver), the country would likely prosper. Socially, it would probably be one of the most liberal countries in the world. While conservatives call much of the rural eastern side of Washington and Oregon home, liberals inhabit the much-larger cities of Seattle, Portland and Vancouver, where all things eco-friendly and organic reign supreme. A far more conservative movement farther north, in Alaska, seeks to make that vast, remote state an independent country.